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Allen Bonde

Professor Emeritus of Music

SpecializationComposition

A feature article in the 1997 Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly refers to Allen Bonde as a "ball of energy" whose approach to life might best be described in musical terms: Vivace. Or resoluto. Perhaps scherzando or espressivo. Animato. Grazioso. He quotes himself in addressing his students: "Teaching is the art of discovery," a credo he passionately believes in and practices with gusto.

Bonde's academic focus is sensitively balanced with his continuing and exciting professional career, one which spans most of his life. As a pianist, Bonde has performed in many venues, including Carnegie Recital Hall, the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Severance Chamber Hall. His performances have been described as "brilliant" (Washington Post) and "solid" (New York Times). Recorded and widely commissioned, his compositions, demonstrating great diversity, have been performed throughout the world by such notables as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic brass principals, and Wong Ching-Ping, one of the most famous pipa players. (The pipa is a short-necked plucked wooden lute.)

Bonde's many honors include a Festival Casals Scholarship and a Yale Graduate Fellowship. Additionally, he had the distinction of being a fellow at the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies. He was the first musician-in-residence at the Nanyang Technological University National Institute of Education in Singapore. In June 2003, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Republic, performed and recorded Bonde's Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra and Jubilate: A Festive Overture.

For more biographical information about Allen Bonde, refer to "A Song of Home," Reader's Digest, September 1991; and "Composing Himself," Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, fall, 1997.

"It is a fact of life that one must retain a sense of joy and eager anticipation...As a composer and pianist, I am continually cognizant that the order of musical notes in a composition simply reflects the flow of life: One note leads to the next—and to the next—until fulfillment is achieved. I want my students to sense that same revelation with joy and eager anticipation."